Recent Articles

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  02/05/2024

  Hungary

  Hungary expands scope of child protection measures

  Limitations and bans on the sale of specific products designed for childrenWith effect from 5 September 2021, the amendment to Government Decree No. 210/2009. (IX. 29.) on the Conditions for Performing Commercial Activities introduced special restrictions and prohibitions on the sale of certain products. By passing Government Decree No. 93/2024. (IV. 23.) on the Amendment of Government Decrees Related to Consumer Protection, the government has now broadened the scope of these limitations and bans with effect from 8 May 2024 as follows:It is prohibited to display in a shop window any product intended...

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  02/05/2024

  South Africa

  Access to the beneficial ownership register

  IntroductionFollowing the coming into effect of the General Laws of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting Terrorism Financing Amendment Act, 22 of 2022 ("GLA 2022"), companies and close corporations have had to familiarise themselves with the requirements of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission ("CIPC") requiring them to keep beneficial ownership information and, in certain circumstances, to file such information with the CIPC.The keeping of beneficial ownership information was initially meant to serve as a repository of natural persons who own or exercise control over legal entities...

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  02/05/2024

  Germany

  "Automatically disadvantaged?" – Discrimination in the use of AI in the workplace

  Despite the enormous potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace, evidence shows that AI harbours the risk of perpetuating discriminatory decision-making patterns. There are increasing calls for regulatory measures to be introduced to counteract this.AI is making ever greater inroads into our working environment. Soon it will be hard to imagine life without it. However, the increasing integration of AI systems in the workplace is also presenting employers with greater challenges. It is not uncommon for algorithm design to reinforce such disadvantages in hiring or promotion decisions,...

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  02/05/2024

  Germany

  Data Act and Cloud Service Providers (Part 1): Contract drafting and information obligations

  The Data Act means cloud service providers need to take action. Part 1 of our article provides an overview of contract drafting and information obligations. With the new Data Act, the European Union (EU) wants to create a single European market for data, open up competition around data-driven business models and make it easier for customers to switch providers. This comes after attempts at self-regulation by the industry, which have not led to the success that the EU hoped for. The EU's digitalisation and data strategy therefore also includes facilitating the process of switching cloud service...

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  01/05/2024

  Europe

  Flushed and failed: General Court shuts the lid on invalidity attack against toilet seat design

  IntroductionEarlier this year, we reported on a Belgian court ruling relating to the validity and infringement of designs for cat litter trays (read about it here). This time, in a decision which will be of greater relevance to our feline friends’ human companions, the EU General Court has dismissed an appeal seeking to invalidate a design for toilet seat lids (Nextrend v EUIPO - Xiamen Axent Corporation and Axent Switzerland, Toilet seats (elements of - ) Case T-82/23). The decision re-states some key principles of design law on the impact of technical constraints for functional products,...

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  30/04/2024

  United Kingdom

  Court of Appeal rejects the Abbott tests for “convenient disposal” of multiple claims in one claim form

  The Court of Appeal has overturned the tests set out in Abbott v Ministry of Defence [2023] EWHC 1475 (KB) [2023] 1 WLR 4002 in relation to determining whether it is suitable for multiple claimants to bring their claims on a single claim form.BackgroundIn Morris & Ors v Williams & Co Solicitors (A Firm) [2024] EWCA Civ 376, the defendant applied to strike out the claim form on the grounds that it was an abuse of process, or was an obstruction to the just disposal of the proceedings, or otherwise that the claim form did not comply with CPR 7.3.CPR 7.3 provides that “[a] claimant may...

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